How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"But your pamphlet said you were a doctor."
"As occasion demands. I have, my boy, spent my life in constant study. Initiate in the Delphic Mysteries, in the Grand Arcana, adviser to His Exalted Serenity, the prince of Trebizonia. I have been instructed by the Great Copta himself in summoning spirits of the dead—with, naturally, a reasonable amount of help from the living."
"You mean," said Theo, "you're no doctor at all."
"Don't take such a narrow view," replied the count. "I assure you, I have lightened more suffering with tubs of magnetized water than most esteemed surgeons have done with lancets and leeches. Those who, for some inscrutable reason, stubbornly refuse to benefit—if I didn't cure them at least I didn't harm them, which cannot be said for a number of your learned bloodletters." (4.17-20)
What's truth got to do with it? Las Bombas says he's a good doctor, but he doesn't have a degree of any sort—and when Theo calls him on it, he says he's probably done more good with what Theo thinks are tricks than some docs have done in their whole careers. Is what's seemingly deceitful always harmful?
Quote #2
"The subjects of His Majesty," he was saying, "require the finest guidance. The people yearn for it, without even realizing what it is they yearn for. These scribblers cause nothing but unrest. Their deaths, beyond question, will serve a higher purpose than their lives: the good of the kingdom. I bear them no personal animosity, but I would fail in my duty if I did otherwise. They will, at least, be spared the needless humiliation of a public trial." (5.3)
Cabbarus is just playing himself. He wants to justify his repressive actions, which allow him to keep an eye on the citizens of Westmark, by saying that they need him to do so, that they want him as their Big Brother figure, even if they don't know it. Even their deaths don't sit on his conscience. Who knew Westmark was part of Orwell's society to keep Cabbarus in power?
Quote #3
"Slugs." roared Las Bombas. "He switched the packets. But--- I had my eye on the real one every second. I never left his side, only when he was fast asleep and I went out to the yard for pebbles. I wasn't gone a minute--- That wretch. He was shamming. Robber. How dare he pass himself off as an alderman."
The count ran to the stable door and shook his fist into the night. "Villain. Little sneak."
He turned back to Theo. "Ah, my poor lad, there's a lesson for you. Never trust a stranger. What a world, with so many thieves abroad in it." (6.39-41)
Las Bombas is a funny guy—he's a trickster, but then he gets mad at Skeit the alderman for fooling him. He's a bit of a hypocrite, lamenting the presence of thieves in the world, when he's such a scam artist. For him and Skeit, lies are just as real as the truth.
Quote #4
"How can you do it?" Theo demanded, as soon as the last of the spectators had gone. "They were heartbroken, those two. It wasn't just foolishness for them. They took it seriously. We told them a pack of lies." (11.26)
Mickle pretended to be a psychic to reassure a couple that their deceased daughter was okay in heaven, and now Theo's disgusted because the audience genuinely believed the act, unlike others in the past which people have taken with a grain of salt. Real deception bothers him.
Quote #5
"You have, I see, bettered your station in life," said Cabbarus. "I believe you formerly went about as a tinker."
"That is correct, sir," the man replied. "It served its purpose. Alderman, though, carries more weight and substance. It conveys, you might say, the aroma of prosperity. It suits well enough at the moment." (18.36-37)
Cabbarus endorses lies. His spies go about in different guises to trick people—like Las Bombas—and gain intelligence. He doesn't question the ethics of this at all, it seems.
Quote #6
The storm broke sooner than Cabbarus hoped. It followed an audience granted to the latest necromancer, a hairless little man in tinted spectacles: a fraud who actually believed in his nonexistent gift and was sincerely dismayed when he could raise no spirits at all. He left the king on the brink of new collapse. (9.5)
Cabbarus, at the king's request, keeps bringing in people who claim to raise the dead. It never works, of course, but Cabby delights in the effect trotting out these frauds has on his master. It's all a scheme to get more power for himself, even though he has other ways to do so.
Quote #7
They reached Felden by midafternoon. Las Bombas judged the town would suit them perfectly.
"It's big enough," he said as they halted in the market square, "to have gentry with money in their pockets, and small enough so they won't be too critical. An excellent place for the Oracle Priestess to learn the business. Then, on to greater fame and fortune." (10.1-2)
When he sets up a scheme, Las Bombas targets his ideal audience. The town of Felden is perfect for his Oracle Priestess skit because enough people are there to get taken in by his lies. One can only imagine how uncomfortable Theo is here, but at least the count has a sound business plan.
Quote #8
Las Bombas urged the company to consult the spirit on any matter of concern. Theo braced himself for disaster as questions showered on the Oracle from all sides. One gentleman demanded to know where his late uncle had hidden his will, as he expected to inherit all the estate. A lady anxiously sought spiritual advice on what colors would be coming into fashion. He expected Mickle to burst out laughing, but the girl kept a straight face. Sitting motionless, eyes closed, she gave every sign of being lost in the deepest trance; with a trick of her voice, she made the phrenological head seem to speak in eerie, sepulchral tones. The answers, however, were so vague that the questioners could take any meaning they chose. (11.3)
When people understand they're being deceived, they don't always mind—so long as they're entertained, they think they've gotten their money's worth. Theo seems fine with the deceit here, though perhaps that has to do with the absurdity of the questions people are asking.
Quote #9
Next night, Theo was almost willing to admit the count was right. The Oracle Priestess had become fashionable among the Felden gentry, probably through lack of better diversion. The audience, more and more, came to see and be seen; to be amused by the antics of the phrenological head; to admire the wistful charms of the Priestess. There was much gossip and laughter; no one, as far as Theo could gather, truly believed in the girl's ghostly pronouncements. Las Bombas might as well have opened a comedy theater. (11.19)
Nothing wrong so long as everyone's in on the joke, right? Theo does his best to ease his own conscience, setting up a perfect instance for his assuaged sense of decency to be violated once again—through a trick he devised.
Quote #10
Florian laughed. "We have something in common. My name isn't Florian." (13.23)
Not everyone can be honest all the time, and even Florian—the guy who fights for the people's rights—realizes that some things have to be sacrificed in his quest for justice. He conceals his real identity so he can't be caught, though this means he's lying in the process. That's just life.
Quote #11
Theo, excited, pressed him for some hint, but Florian left, saying no more. The old woman whose son was in prison had been waiting patiently. Theo had written her same letter to the Royal Prosecutor so often that he knew it word for word. He had, until then, considered that the best service he could do would be to tell her to go away, that it was a lost cause. He beckoned to her.
"Come along, mother," he said. "Let's try again." (13.44-45)
Theo thinks that writing appeal letters to Westmark's prisons is pointless, but Florian informs him he's doing a service to those who commission letters by keeping their hope alive. Thus, by fibbing a bit, Theo nurtures faith within an old soul… so maybe he's doing good while lying.